Don't know if you are ok with painting them, but if so I've used Eastwood's hi temp coating with great results. Get the brush-on not aerosol can as it will clog up. This stuff replicates raw cast iron and lasts for years, even if painted over surface rust. A thinned down coat works best.

I have a unrestored 68 mustang with a 289 that the exhaust manifolds are a little rusty. Is there a way to improve their appearance with out restoring them?

No.Rust never sleeps. Years back we used a graphite spray by McKay, but I don't know if it's still available. In any case, after a couple of years the graphite sprayed manifolds started to show signs of rust.

I used Eastwood's product as well, being very careful to follow their instructions. The manifolds sat for 3 years after painting before the engine fired back up, and the paint almost immediately burned off, leaving bare metal once again. *sigh*

What I meant by surface rust was that you don't need to blast them, just wire brush real well. Some thinning of the paint as it comes in the can is better because a couple thin coats won't show brush strokes - the stuff I got was pretty thick and didn't lay down very smooth without some thinning. Just my experience.

The coating must be heat cured within a certain time period after applying, so should be ready to bolt up and run the engine. Possibly could use an oven but it has to be really hot and the fumes are something awful.

The manifolds on my Shelby were done over 15 yrs ago - no rust showing and still looking very good.

I have used the brush on coatings on the manifolds of my restored cars with great success. I am afraid that those coatings or paint would cross the line to restoring. I am ok with a little rust on them for a unrestored car. I just was wondering if there was a way to improve their looks a little bit.Thanks for the ideas. BTW Jim I have a old oven at my shop for just such projects. I got in trouble at home too many times.

I had peeling paint and rust on the vertical surface on the front of my engine when I took off my t-stat housing. I brushed on Eastwood rust dissolving gel and covered with Seran wrap overnight. I wiped it down the next day and reapplied and wiped I'd down again. The rust cleaned up pretty well. I have yet to heat the car up, so I have no idea what the residue will do.

I have never worked on a unrestored car before. The choices on what is cleaning and what is restoring are some times are hard choices. These were very nice original exhaust manifolds they even still had a little bit of the engine blue over spray on them. I decided not to use Evaporust and risk losing the blue paint.Even though rust removal is just cleaning, a new looking manifold on a engine that has original paint and a old engine bay may look out of place. I guess you would expect some rust on 50 year old manifolds. I would enjoy hearing from others who have worked on unrestored cars and what processes they used.

I have never worked on a unrestored car before. The choices on what is cleaning and what is restoring are some times are hard choices. These were very nice original exhaust manifolds they even still had a little bit of the engine blue over spray on them. I decided not to use Evaporust and risk losing the blue paint.

Its been my and others experience that Evaporust does not remove paint (which makes it great for leaving paint marks after rust removal) unless its left in the solution allot longer than it should. I don't soak normally over approx 24 hours

I agree the most times it does not remove the paint. Every time I do a drive shaft it seems to remove the paint. Possibly because the metal tube was oily when it was painted.

I cleaned them with Super Clean and a brush. That got most of the oil and dirt, then I sprayed them with T9. We will see what they look like after they are in the car for a while. I can always do more to them.